Porsche Names New Sports Car Cayman S

Cayman S Positioned between Carrera and Boxster S

Porsche, flush with new money thanks to extremely successful Cayenne sales, will be bolstering its sports car lineup with a new

Thanks to the cash infusion from the very successful Cayenne, Porsche will be releasing a new model at this year's Geneva Auto Salon. (Photo: Porsche)

model to be unveiled at this year's Geneva Auto Salon next month.

Named Cayman S, said to be after a rather small and particularly quick genre of crocodile actually called caiman, but just as likely after a popular tax free banking jurisdiction in the Caribbean designated the Cayman Islands, the new car is to be slotted above Boxster S in performance, desirability and price, and below the 911 Carrera.

In order to reduce development costs, and endow the Cayman S with the superior handling characteristics of a mid-engine layout, it will be based on the recently revised Boxster. Of course, the new car will receive the added benefits of a fixed roof, which will stiffen its body structure significantly and therefore improve performance through the curves.

Like the Boxster the Cayman will be a two-seater, not including jump seats like its larger, rear-engine 911 sibling. The new

The new car is to be slotted above Boxster S in performance, desirability and price, and below the 911 Carrera. (Photo: Porsche)

model will also feature unique styling details, although no one will be able to mistake it for anything other than a Porsche.

More energetic than the Boxster S, which is now rated at 280-horsepower, and less than the base 911, which makes 320-horsepower, the Cayman S makes 295-horsepower through its modified 3.4-litre, horizontally opposed, 6-cylinder Boxster engine. In a vehicle that should weigh less than the Boxster it is derived from, due to its fixed roof, reduction in stiffening materials necessary in convertible models, and lack of power softtop mechanisms, 295-horsepower should make for an extremely sporting demeanor.